Conceptual sketch, with thoughts and notes, on where I’m thinking of taking the LAJ 1960s version.
For a number of reasons, I plan to focus my upcoming efforts on the LAJ layout. I like the feel of the room, its openness, the mid-century modern interior design, and the way the sun floods the space in the afternoon. I’ve been drawn to the LAJ since I was a teenager. Finally, the Alco S2 switcher is a simply superb runner, a joy to operate.
I’ve been stumped on where to take it for a while. Problem 1? It’s “stick a fork in it” DONE. Even going full Tom Johnson on it with details, there just isn’t anything left to build. Maybe some rolling stock and vehicles, but nothing on the layout proper. Second, it does offer the potential for decent operations, but it would be nice to have a little more. I don’t want to encroach on the open room space, though. I learned my lesson with the N scale Brooklyn Terminal that used to be the center of the space. After a lot of cogitating, I was finally able to find a way out by doing three things.
- As much as I love the modern era, the number of industries is far less than it used to be. By moving the era back to the early 1960s, I can avail myself of that era’s much heavier car flow and industry density.
- When I carefully studied the track charts and aerials, I noticed something interesting that I could use to my advantage A lot of the spurs had a ton of industries on them served by a single turnout. I also noticed that some of these long, multi-industry spurs had a grade crossing in the middle. That adds interest, too. I’ve also noticed how often tenants change in industrial parks. Through a simple re-labeling and assigning several industries to a spur, I could plausibly pack more in. I noticed that the spurs that curved away at ninety-degree angles served multiple industries. These curved leads also add visual interest.
- Finally, I still had the removable module I built a few months ago for possible use as a team track. I dug that out of storage and did some track re-arranging to more closely represent the prototype. Being removable, I can take it down in a few minutes if and when I want to open up the room.
Here’s a simplified schematic of the “spurs off of the spur” on The Horn Lead in 1964. Note the numerous industries served by a single turnout. As modelers, we can use this to our advantage to get a lot of structures and operational potential out of a small amount of space without resorting to model railroady gimmicks. Note that as time went on, most of these spurs were abandoned, hence my decision to model the line during earlier times.
Here’s an aerial of the same area (1964). It’s not as easy to follow as the schematic above, but if you zoom in, you can see what’s going on.
A shot of the removable module. Note the cross street. I’m not sure if I’ll keep the second track on the right. It would be handy as a sorting track. I could also make it an industry. If go that route I can’t put a structure in front. I learned my lesson the hard way on a previous iteration with Modern Pattern and Foundry.
Free money. Just through a simple label change I can plausibly assume that the building above represents two industries.
I’ve found that, more often than not, the answer to difficult planning problems can be found by studying the prototype. Also, for smaller layouts, you’re far better off doing your planning in 3D with mockups as opposed to spending too much time on 2D drawings.